On Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:03:19 +1100, Alan S
wrote:

On Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:18:24 -0700, Hatunen
wrote:


I should probably point out that with Skype and a WiFi hotspot
you can also call ahead to reserve rooms in your next destination
and or to contact European relatives, or whatever, and for that
same approx two cents a minute.

You could also point out that if the party being called has Skype on a
computer, the call is free.

I've found that very few of the people I might call have Skype.
And if they did they would have to be at their computers when I
called. But ya never know....

Calling their landline phone by Skype is likely to still be
cheaper than most other options.

That's the approx two cents a minute I cited.

That is also true in some
cases and some countries for calls to mobile phones.

Extra costs for cell phone calls is something to watch out for.
But it's probably still ceaper than calling those cellphones from
a landline.

I know a Skype call to a Finnish cell phone costs about $0.20
extra. That's because in Finland, the caller pays, not the
cellphone owning callee. In Finland each cell phone company has
its own area code.

I only installed Skype a couple of weeks ago and I'm already
impressed at the differences in call costs.

We haven't used it in Europe yet, but a year or so we drove down
to Guaymas in Mexico and took my wife's laptop along. Normally,
calling the USA from Mexico can cost $0.50/min and up, and using
our cell phones would have been prohibitive for any but urgent
calls. But our hotel had Internet in its rooms, and my wife used
Skype to call back to Tucson. She even chatted about a half hour
with a friend there at a total cost of about $0.75

The other option overseas is a pre-purchased calling card
bought from a kiosk or newsagent, which you use from any
local phone.

As I mentioned, we've had little luck with those. The first
problem is finding a phone that you can use it on. Many hotels
won't let you use the cards on their phones.

In Munich before we had Skype we gave up on using a phone card
and found a storefront near our hotel that had a number of phone
booths and was widely used by immigrants to Germany.

--
************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *